dr bob

Anybody close by my neighborhood is welcome to use the crimpers needed to assemble this harness, and any battery cable lugs up to 1/0. My hydraulic crimper doesn't have quite the same available pressure that Chris's does.

Bmw635

An alternative is to go to local Instertate battery warehouse/ store. They sell and crimp large wires and lug by the feet. I had them made some for my off road trailer and 2nd aux battery in the Land Cruiser.

hacker-pschorr

Good idea.

Another thought is any marina. Most should have the tools on site to make / repair large gauge cable ends.

dr bob

Better marine supply stores have the capability to make cables to the inch, including the crimping and good double-wall adhesive-lined shrink sleeve. When Ireplaced the battery cable in my car, I bought the parts but didn't have them do the assembly, since their crimping tools were all buggeed. They have a free-rent program for the tools, and apparently someone tried to use them to set fittings on some rigging. No problem, I have the tools. The cable I got from them was Ancor 1ga, finely stranded and tinned for marine service.

The fun part was installation, wrestling a boa constrictor into all the original holders and routing.

The other bad news-- it did absolutely nothing to help with the battery charging. That was solved with a new ground strap.

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There are varying schools of thought on crimping vs soldering on lugged cable terminals. Soldering is wonderful if done correctly, but along with the excellent electrical qualities comes a problem if solder wicks up inside the cable too far. When that happens, the cable is rigid into areas where you migh want some flexing. On the engine harness, that flexing is needed at the jump post end, with the cable strapped to the engine lift bracket before it loops to the jump post. In the factory harness, there's extra length on that primary cable to distribute the stress from flexing over the twisted loop. In my opinion, if you can solder correctly, this would be a satisfactory method for attaching lugs to the smaller feeders.

firemn131

Thanks All,
This is the exact informational interchange that I was hoping for. I am a quality specialist for naval aircraft wiring systems.
That being said, it is easy to just go off of the harness that I have and build to spec. After learning about the better ways to build a harness that fits the car better on my 968, I just figured that there were other who have crossed this bridge before, and had modifications that fit the engineering better.
I have all of the large gauge terminal tools. I generally crimp and solder, depending on where the location is, as wicking does play a part in rigidity in some locations.
My harness has 2 power feeder wire going to 1 lug. I am assuming this was done to ease the rigidity of a single large gauge cable. I believe that the after market harnesses have gone to a single conductor.

This project starts soon enough.

Man, I love you guys..haha

Chris Lockhart

Definitely lots of good info. I definitely appreciate the tips of what NOT to mimic the factory on.

dr bob

Chris, IIRC there are two conductors to one lug at the alternator primary connection, where there are 4 (total) conductors tied together? I don't remember the connection specifics for how the ABS feeder is connected. There are three primary connections at the starter, including the primary feed from battery positive.

The harness is secured by a clamp as it passes over the crossmember, so there is flex on both sides of that clamp as cobles connect to engine-attached pieces (starter, alternator). The positive battery cable runs across the crossmember, is secured (cable ties) to the aft end of that front-of-engine harness. they loop together back around to the starter where they all connect.